Mapping Ireland’s coastal, shelf and deep-water environments using illustrative case studies to highlight the impact of seabed mapping on the generation of blue knowledge

Through Ireland’s national seabed mapping programme, Integrated Mapping for the Sustainable Development of Ireland’s Marine Resource (INFOMAR), the collaboration between Geological Survey Ireland and the Marine Institute continues to comprehensively map Ireland’s marine territory in high resolution. Through its work, the programme builds on earlier Irish seabed mapping efforts, including the Irish National Seabed Survey project in producing seabed mapping products that support Ireland’s blue economy, European marine policy and international efforts to understand our global oceans. INFOMAR uses a variety of marine technologies to deliver accurate bathymetric maps and useful data products to end users through a free and open source licensing agreement. To reflect the diversity of applications these data products serve, a series of four case studies are presented here focusing on marine geophysical and geological data from locations within Ireland’s marine territories. The case studies illustrate how data generated through seabed mapping may be interpreted to directly impact the generation of blue knowledge across a variety of marine environments ranging from shallow coastal and shelf waters to the deep oceanic depths of the continental slope of Ireland’s marine area. The impact of Ireland’s seabed mapping efforts is further considered in the context of national, European and international initiatives where Ireland’s marine knowledge resource is leveraged to deliver positive benefit to the programme’s stakeholders.